Seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher was hospitalized December 29 after suffering "severe head trauma" from a ski accident in the French Alps. He is no longer in a coma and has since been transferred to a hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland for rehabilitation. Here's a look back at his personal and career highlights:

Schumacher is hoisted by his pit crew at the Australian Grand Prix track in Adelaide, Australia, after winning the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship in 1994.

Schumacher holds up the victory trophy, left, and the French Republic President's trophy after winning the French Formula 1 Grand Prix in Magny Cours, France, in 1995.

Schumacher meets Pope John Paul II in 1999.

King Juan Carlos of Spain congratulates Schumacher after he won the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2001.

Schumacher checks out an Enzo Ferrari at Frankfurt's International Motor Show in 2003.

Schumacher steers his Ferrari in front of a Eurofighter on the track of a military airport in Grosseto, Italy, in 2003.

Schumacher sits in his car before the start at the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in 2004 in Shanghai.

A man rides past a poster with Schumacher's likeness in Bahreman, Iran, in 2005.

Felipe Massa hugs Schumacher after Massa won first place in the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Turkey in Istanbul in 2006.

Schumacher drives during a practice session at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2006.

Schumacher celebrates his win at the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Germany in 2006 in Hockenheim, Germany.

Schumacher's pit team works on his car during the Formula 1 Grand Prix of China in Shanghai in 2006.

Schumacher arrives for an awards ceremony in Oviedo, Spain, in 2007.

Schumacher autographs the T-shirt of an earthquake victim in Costa Rica in 2009.

Shumacher presents the new Mercedes SLS AMG, also the 2010 Formula 1 safety car, in Geneva in 2010.

Schumacher visits the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, to test eSafety technologies in 2011.

Ski resort's director says the 44-year-old hit his helmet on a rock after falling

(CNN) -- Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in Formula 1 history and one of the world's highest-profile athletes, remains in critical condition after suffering severe head trauma in a skiing accident in the French Alps, hospital officials said Monday.

Doctors who have been treating Schumacher at the University Hospital Center of Grenoble said at a news conference that it was too early to say what the driver's prognosis might be.

In a prepared statement, Schumacher's family thanked doctors for doing "everything possible to help Michael." They also thanked people around the world for the outpouring of support.

The German, who retired from the elite motorsport for the second time in 2012, fell and hit his head on a rock Sunday, said the director of the Meribel resort where Schumacher was skiing.

Schumacher was in a coma when he arrived at the hospital and required immediate brain surgery, officials said. So far, he has undergone one operation and is being kept in a coma, they said Monday.

Schumacher, who turns 45 Friday, won a record seven world titles in his spectacular Formula 1 career and "also holds nearly every scoring record in the book by a considerable margin," according to the motorsport's official website.

He dominated the competition for the best part of a decade, winning five world championships in a row between 2000 and 2004.

Schumacher suffered serious injury once during his career in the high-speed sport, breaking his leg in a crash at the British Grand Prix in 1999.

Schumacher was wearing a helmet when he hit his head, Gernignon-Lecomte said. Rescuers reached him minutes later, and he was airlifted to a nearby hospital, the director said.

Doctors at the Grenoble hospital said that without the helmet's protection, Schumacher wouldn't have made it to the operating table.

The cause of the accident, which is being investigated by police, remains unclear, Gernignon-Lecomte said.

Schumacher "was not alone" when he fell, his spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said in a prepared statement. But nobody else was involved, she said.

'A great champion'

Former French Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis visited the hospital in Grenoble on Sunday but was not able to see Schumacher, CNN affiliate BFM TV reported.

"As I am here in Grenoble, I want to come to him and say hello, for old times' sake. He is a great champion and someone very loved in Formula 1," Panis told BFM.

Racing 'legend' in critical condition

Sebastian Vettel is proving to be a worthy successor to fellow German driver Michael Schumacher (right) as the biggest star in Formula One.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher made his Formula One debut in 1991. Shortly after making his bow, the German posed for this photograph at the go-kart circuit in his hometown of Kerpen where he began his racing career.

German karting coach Gerhard Noack helped shape the careers of Schumacher and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel at the Kerpen track. CNN presenter Amanda Davies went to meet Noack for a rare television interview.

When Noack spotted Vettel's talents, he hoped to make him the next German prodigy. Here Vettel is an 18-year-old about to drive an F1 car for the first time in a 2005 private test for BMW Sauber.

A young Vettel (shown here in 2008) says he looked up to Schumacher in his early F1 career -- but soon he would edge closer to his hero's achievements.

Schumacher won five of his seven world titles in the scarlet colors of the Ferrari team. Noack expects Vettel to one day leave Red Bull as he seeks to add to his titles -- will he join Ferrari?

There were solo celebrations for Vettel at the 2013 Indian Grand Prix as another victory clinched his fourth straight world title with the supreme Red Bull team. The 26-year-old is tipped to one day surpass Schumacher as the sport's most decorated driver.

German greats

Kings of Kerpen

Motoring mentor

The Vettel era begins

Zero to hero

The red menace

Fab four

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Vettel and Schumacher's route to success

Schumacher has a wife, Corinna, and two children, Gina-Maria and Mick. His brother Ralf was also a Formula 1 driver.

Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in 1991 and won a record seven world titles -- five of them with Ferrari -- by the time he retired for the first time at the end of the 2006 championship.

In that period of temporary retirement, he was involved in a motorcycle crash in Spain in 2009 that left him with a lingering neck injury, which delayed his racing comeback.

He returned to the Formula 1 track with the revived Mercedes team in 2010 but struggled to repeat his earlier glories.

His best finish was third place at last year's European Grand Prix in Valencia, his only podium position in three seasons with the German manufacturer.

'A very good skier'

Sunday's accident occurred at a popular ski resort in an area known for its challenging slopes above the tree line.

"If you are anything less than a really experienced skier, it's very easy to lose your bearings, because you don't see much in the way of vegetation around you or anything else," said Paul Hochman, a former contributing editor at SKI Magazine. "It's just literally all white, all snow."

Mentoring Vettel and Schumacher

Schumacher 'is a very good skier'

British journalist Kevin Garside told CNN that Schumacher is "a very good skier" but acknowledged that he is "fearless" -- like most Formula 1 drivers.

"These people don't recognize fear like you and I do. There is no gene in their body that lets them go slow," Garside said.

"Schumacher wasn't a skier when he joined Ferrari (in 1996), but by the end he was excellent," he said. "Each year Ferrari used to have a media week in the Alps in Italy and they would always have a race -- and it was always Schumacher who won. He was a genuinely quick skier.

"But he was always very mindful of the danger around him," Garside added. "I approached him for an interview at the top of the slope, and he said it would have to be quick as he wanted to check the piste. That meant he wanted to make sure he understood the slopes, the cambers, even though it was only a fun race."